Chapter 6 - The First Missing ChildState investigators located Rachel.
She lived in New Mexico.
She agreed to meet.
When she saw me, she began crying.
“I've been waiting for someone from Ethan's family to come.”
I sat down.
“Why didn't you contact me?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of Rebecca?”
Rachel shook her head.
“Of the person Rebecca worked for.”
“Who?”
She opened a folder.
Inside was a photograph.
A man in a police uniform.
Harold Mason.
My stomach dropped.
“He wasn't just protecting Rebecca,” Rachel said.
“He was running the operation.”
She explained that Mason had recruited vulnerable families.
Rebecca was one of several people who gained access to children.
Some were moved through illegal adoption schemes.
Others were exploited.
Ethan had discovered the network.
He planned to expose it.
Rachel looked at me.
“He told me he had evidence.”
“What happened?”
“He said if anything happened to him, I should disappear.”
I closed my eyes.
“Why didn't you tell anyone?”
“Because three days later, he died.”
Silence.
Then Rachel handed me a second photograph.
It showed Ethan standing outside a courthouse.
Beside him was another man.
I recognized him immediately.
It was a well-known judge in our county.
I stared.
“Who is that?”
May you like
Rachel whispered,
“The person who signed the adoption orders.”
